Governor Bruce Rauner believes he can hold secret meetings on public property.
- Brian Jackson/For the Sun-Times
- Governor Bruce Rauner says you don’t have the right to know what state business he’s conducting behind closed doors.
“The Governor’s Office was under no obligation to provide the requested appointment calendars to Mr. Dumke because these documents are not ‘public records’ under FOIA,” she wrote in a July 16 letter to the Public Access Bureau, a division of the attorney general’s office that rules on FOIA disputes.
He’s made good on vows to fight for a probusiness “turnaround” agenda that would tighten the rules for union organizing, worker’s compensation, and filing lawsuits. Since Democrats have rejected the proposals, Rauner has refused to work with house speaker Michael Madigan and senate president John Cullerton on a budget deal, resulting in a state shutdown during which the governor has remained largely out of public view.
We then asked the public access bureau to weigh in, arguing that citizens have a clear right to know what the governor is up to. We stressed that we never asked what was said at the meetings—only who was in on them—so it was illogical to claim that releasing the information would reveal confidential discussions.
But the attorney general’s office eventually rejected those claims and determined that the mayor’s schedule and meeting calendar were indeed public records. “The public has a legitimate interest in learning of its Mayor’s public meetings held in City Hall,” wrote an assistant attorney general.
The public access bureau will have a chance to weigh in on both FOIA matters in the coming weeks.
